Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

Celebrating Older Human Rights Champions

Picture of Teo-Inspiro

Teo-Inspiro

All Posts

Celebrating Older Human Rights Champions

I have always believed that there are two categories of old persons in Nigeria: the rich older persons and the poor older persons. Every year, the UN celebrates International Day of Older Persons on October 1st.

This year’s theme stood out for various reasons:

  1. It coincided with the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Thus, the theme “Celebrating Older Human Rights Champions.” was chosen to significantly remind us of the importance of that declaration 70 years ago.
  2. It also signifies a call to ‘reaffirm the commitment to promoting the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by older persons.’

 

The UN stressed that the 2018 theme was set to achieve the following:

 

  • Promote the rights enshrined in the Declaration and what it means in the daily lives of older persons;
  • Raise the visibility of older people as participating members of society committed to improving the enjoyment of human rights in many areas of life and not just those that affect them immediately;
  • Reflect on progress and challenges in ensuring full and equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by older persons; and
  • Engage broad audiences across the world and mobilize people for human rights at all stages of life.

 

Coincidentally, the October 1 global celebration of older persons falls on the same day

Nigeria marks its Independence Day celebration yearly since attaining independence from the British in 1960. It would have been a lovely scenario if Nigerians had thought of taking advantage of this date, not just to celebrate our older persons but to recognize past leaders, whether deceased or still alive, for having been a voice ‘advocating for human rights in their communities, at the grassroots, and at local, national and regional levels.

According to the UN, “Each and every one demands equal respect and acknowledgement for their dedication and commitment to contributing to a world free from fear and free from want.”

 

How true!!! Yet, we dream of the day that the poor elderly in Nigeria would enjoy equal rights, respect, fair, just and equal treatment like their counterparts, the well rich elderly. We hope for the day that the poor elderly would not be labelled ‘witch’ because he/she does not have the wealth that frees him/her from being dependent on their offspring and rich relations for their daily upkeep until the day mother earth demands for their weary bones in preparation to embrace their ashes.

 

Whilst our rich elderly command respect, it is not so for their poor counterparts. No wonder we are all hoping to be the rich elderly one day. How easy for us with our rich heritage and culture to fall so easily to alien ways of not taking care of the poor elderly amongst us. We must, however, commend philanthropic Nigerians, faith based organizations like the Catholic Missions, well put together families, individuals, non-governmental organizations and some communities for not failing to take care of the less fortunate elderly still living with us.

 

By Bridget Uko

Share:
Picture of Teo-Inspiro

Teo-Inspiro

Teo-Inspiro International is a media production company that is changing the narrative by empowering young people with digital skills to showcase the beauty of Africa. We provide photography and video coverage for events, produce films and documentaries that tell the African story and organize training programs on camera handling.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

Hot News

Trending

Subscribe

Sign up for regular doses of latest information from Teo-Inspiro International

Client

Ubongo International

Role

Content Producer (Nigeria Chapter)

  • Created community engagement videos and digital learning content
  • Produced human-interest features on early childhood learning in underserved communities
Client

International IDEA – Impact of RoLAC Programme (EU-Funded)

Role

Documentary Production Consultant

  • Produced documentary film showcasing justice sector reforms in Nigeria
  • Developed content strategy for visibility and dissemination
  • Coordinated interviews with government actors, CSOs, and international partners
Client

Save The Children

Brief

Provide media and coverage and content development for the Stop Diarrhoea Initiative in Lagos State.

We provided video and photo coverage for all project events assigned in Lagos. A group of 50 children were also trained on content development and storytelling as part of awareness for the project.

We successfully managed the production of events under the project using top-notch professional equipment. The Save the Children team in Lagos had enough videos and photo content for the campaign.
Client

Sanlam of Nigeria

Brief

FBN Insurance was rebranding to Sanlam Nigeria after a merger with the South African company and we had to provide event media production services suitable for an international event.

We shared the brief with all vendors who qualified for the different aspects of the event. We ensured all set up was ready and a dry-run done six hours before the event started.

The South African team was impressed with our professionalism and the event was a huge success with news mentions across platforms within and outside Nigeria.
Client

Helen Keller International

Brief

Ensure professional videography and photography coverage of all projects

Teo-Inspiro International ensured our production team understood the brief for each event and delivered professional coverage and content for all media platforms.

All HKI project events assigned to us were produced successfully. All vendors engaged provided excellent service to the client on every occasion. A short documentary of the 5-year Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyle project was produced.
Client

FirstBank of Nigeria

Brief

Provide media content development for the digital marketing team of FirstBank of Nigeria.

Photography coverage of all events hosted and sponsored by FirstBank, live edit and share content with the digital media team for posting on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook live at the event.

Since 2019 we have successfully provided over 2.5million images used on FirstBank’s social media platforms. Due to the quality of content this has increased engagement on the bank’s social media platforms and recently achieved 1million followership on Instagram.

 
 
Client

British Council ACT Programme

Brief

Media Engagement Consultancy to support the delivery of the EU-ACT communication and visibility under five (5) objectives. ACT Programme wants to use new and traditional media platforms to create awareness and visibility on the importance of CSOs in achieving the SDGs

We developed the “Civic Action, Sustainable Communities” campaign aimed at showcasing the contributions of CSOs to sustainable development in Nigeria. Digital marketing was deployed across all social media platforms and relevant content curated from the 200 benefiting CSOs on the ACT Programme. A weekly interactive radio program was produced for thirteen weeks across four locations (Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt and Abuja) on Nigeria Info and Arewa Radio. About twenty-five CSOs and other stakeholders involved in the ACT Programme featured in an international documentary showcasing the impact of the programme. Investigative journalists and feature writers were supported to publish stories and reports covering the thematic areas of the ACT Programme on AIT, Guardian, Vanguard, ThisDay, The Nation, Leadership and BluePrint newspapers. A website was also designed to serve as a repository for all campaign project activities.

The campaign resulted in more recognition and appreciation for CSOs contribution to development in Nigeria by citizens, open dialogue between CSOs and regulatory agencies and other CSOs wanting to be part of the campaign. Asides the social media campaign a documentary about the ACT Programme and its impact on CSOs across Nigeria was produced. Teo-Inspiro leveraged her relationship with broadcast and print media organization to publish feature stories about the positive impact of the Programme in Nigeria. The campaign had over 5,000 followers on social media and over 200,000 reach across platforms. The radio program reached over a million people during the 13-week period.